Mid Ulster third on UK wage ‘blacklist’ for women working part-time

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Published:11:09Wednesday 02 September 2015

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Mid Ulster is the third worst area in the UK in which to live if you are woman working part-time.

This shocking claim comes after the Trade Union Congress [TUC] released new statistics on the number of part-time workers earning less than the living wage in each Westminster constituency to mark Part-time Equal Pay Day.

With almost three thirds of part-time female workers in Mid Ulster earning less than £7.85 an hour, it comes behind only Dwyfor Meirionnydd in Wales and Birmingham Northfield in England’s West Midlands on the list of ten blackspots.

The official figures show that in more than 130 parliamentary constituencies earning below the Living Wage is the norm for part-time women workers.

The TUC is concerned that despite three years of stronger economic growth, many working women still remain trapped in in-work poverty and is calling on more employers to pay a living wage.

The TUC says that even though the Chancellor has introduced a minimum wage premium for over 25’s it is still well below what is needed to live on and will be undermined by his new cuts to tax credits.

Today (Wednesday, September 2, two-thirds of the way through 2015) is effectively the last day this year that women working part-time get paid - because they earn just 67p for every pound earned by men working full-time.

One of the main reasons for this huge gender pay divide is the large concentration of women doing low-paid, part-time work, says the TUC.

The organisation’s General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Working part-time shouldn’t mean poverty pay, but for millions of women that is the reality.

“Our labour market is failing to deliver for women across the UK. Those looking to work part-time or on a flexible basis are too often restricted to low-level and low-paid positions that do not make the most of their skills. Lots are forced to trade down when they start a family.

“If we don’t create better opportunities and increase wages for part-time staff then women will continue to bear the brunt of in-work poverty.